Question Question about Ryzen 2700/2600 (non-X) PB/XFR performance and power limits

[TJ Hooker]

A little background:

From everything I've read, Ryzen 2K frequency boosting (PB/XFR) works excellent on the 2600X/2700X, to the point where I often see it recommended you're better off leaving the CPU at stock settings (or using PBO to overclock) rather than try to manually overclocking.
However, it seems that multi core boost doesn't work quite as well on the non-X CPUs, particularly the 2700, and from what I've read I think the consensus is that it's because they have lower rated TDPs, thus the processor has to lower its boost clocks more rapidly as more cores become loaded to stay within power limits.

So my question is: can you improve multi core boost clocks on non-X CPUs simply by adjusting power/current limits (in Ryzen Master or whatever)?

I often see people say to save the money and get a non-X CPU and then just (manually) overclock it to -X speeds, but the issue with that is that the all core OC you're able to achieve may be lower than the max speed you could hit on just a few cores, thus impacting performance in lightly threaded loads. But if the underlying PB/XFR behaviour is the same for X and non-X CPUs, and it's just that the non-X have lower limits that they are bumping into, can that be worked around with relative ease? So you end up getting the best of both worlds? And to add to that, does PBO work on non-X CPUs? And if so, is that another way to improve multi core boost speeds? Or maybe you need to both enable PBO and then manually adjust limits for this to work?

This is purely for my own curiosity/education.

 

[rigg42]

It’s in interesting question. I’m not sure the extra 100-150 MHz max potential you get from x chip + pbo matters much in real world performance vs an overclocked non x anyway. I wasn’t even aware the non x could use pbo until recently. I think this was added in later bios versions and only on certain motherboards. I could be wrong about that though. I’ve yet to come across anyone claiming they got any extra performance on the non x using PBO. I think the less aggressive XFR on the non x means a manual OC has more potential. As far as I’m aware the 2700 won’t auto boost above 4.1 ghz and it would probably be just as easy to dial that up manually.

 

[CountMike]

Both are actually same processors with x models binned higher and microcode is adjusted so it becomes X or non-X model. In theory, non-x can be OC-ed just as high but it would require higher voltage.
In my experience. X models can be OC-ed safely and reliably on all cores only up to their highest boost frequency which happens only up to half cores. Implementing PBO and XFR is up to BIOS so results can vary a lot, not only by MB but by it's BIOS version.
Other limiting factor is VRM which has to supply enough power for top auto or manual settings. My 2700x can get close to 140W when OC-ed to 4.3GHz which is actual frequency on 1 -4 cores with full PBO boost. That puts EDC to close to 100% (99 under full load) while on auto at same load stays lower than 80%.